Since its release The Mercury café racer has been a pretty unobjectionable success with inner city urban bohemians looking for a reliable introduction to the world of motorcycling, unfortunately as a result of The Mercury’s regular demographic, the extent of modifications one would expect to see the cafe racer sporting is generally limited to how much money a university student has left over at the end of the week after purchasing their staple consumables of goon and mi-goreng. 

Rebellion, otherwise known as the one who revolts, is an experimental Mercury project by Gasoline Motor co, aka, the Mercury custom masters, in an attempt to find out just how far the boundaries of this entry level bike can be pushed. With most early Hypotheses stipulating that the bike would forever resemble the much loved cafe racer but as luck would have it, only a short matter of time was needed to discover just how wrong these early aspersions were.

Militant in nature, The Rebellion plays host to an infamous 450cc SOHC 4-stroke motor, a mysterious and illusive engine mentioned across several websites hinting at it’s existence yet never once furthering with details yet alone providing any information on how to procure one. The engine, at nearly twice the capacity of the factory standard power plant does require some modification (approximately thirty five hours of slave labor metal manipulation) to the frameand swing arm to facilitate its bulk and additional components, principally on accord of its liquid cooled disposition. Ever in its subversive nature, Rebellion decided that losing some paint off the frame was not going to become a problem and instead decided to utilise it’s new found beaten appeal to effect and run with the scheme resulting in the vast majority of paint from all parts of the frame and tank getting a coarse grind leaving an all over raw ‘un’-finish. 

Despite its pugnacious adventurer enduro tires, a menacing radiator sheathed by thick gauge cooper and aggressive renthal motocross hangers, The Rebellion’s seditious appearance is not without backup from finer and often overlooked detail. One of the more unique elements to this build was finding an effective and space conservative solution to confine the new liquid cooled engine’s overflow - after all, the original engine configuration didn’t require any such mechanism yet alone the space for it. Many commercially available options were looked at alongside a host of ideas for a completely custom fabricated unit - all of which simply didn’t seem to reflect the anarchic force embodied by a bike both rebellious in nature and by namesake. A solution was finally found when a decision was made to rule out all forms of superfluities and to acutely define exactly what the requirements for the overflow tank were - small, non-reactive and temperature stable. Whether it’s seen as a statement of character or simply coincidental and fortuitous, one member of the Gasoline team managed to find a vessel that so happened to meet all the aforementioned criteria in the confines of their back pocket, a stainless steel hip-flask. Ordinarily for intoxicating beverages of the spirituous variety, this canteen rests neatly just south of the tank with credit to its purpose constructed sling crafted from the very same vintage cowhide used to upholster the seat which so happens to be slung low and flat from the rear of the tank and continues all the way to where a rear fender would live (had it not have already been eliminated after defecting in an attempted coup d'etat). The battery alongside the vast majority of electronic components were neatly exiled in the middle of the night to a secluded cell fabricated from the skeletal remains of the factory original fender and strategically hidden from sight above the rear wheel. Further preparations to ensure that The Rebellion is always ready for an all out assault include saving precious weight by replacing the standard included set of indicators with ultra lightweight LED turn signals which as a bonus double up on the rear as a tail light allowing the factory standard unit to be removed all together in a covert operation led by personnel of the highest security clearance.

Ask any revolutionary insurgent for advice and they’ll tell you that the key to overthrowing any states established power is to do so with a bang - and The Rebellion makes no exception to this time proven adage, armed with a custom two and a half inch straight through exhaust ending with a ruthless conical rear facing cannon, this bike without a doubt knows how to make it’s presence known and understood. Again, not being one to be the subject of oppression on any front, especially in regards to the very air needed to breathe life into its single cylinder, the standard airbox and filter arrangement was completely disposed of in favor of using a brutally primitive sponge unifilter, perfect for those instances of deep jungle guerrilla warfare. Propaganda from The Rebellion continues from its instantly recognisable chain sprocket headlight shroud, polished and clear coated for protection against oxidisation in humid war zones - which frames a vintage halo light ensuring to spot light any escaping denizens.

As the only Mercury 450cc in known existence and one of Throttle Roll’s favorite custom builds of 2015, The Rebellion has not only become the ambassador of engine conversions for The Mercury but also the dictator of possibility for all future custom Mercury builds.